3.12 Music and the Enlightenment

• $After 1850$, the $Classical$ style emerged   * Developed especially in $Vienna$     * Vienna is located at the crossroads of 4 other musical nations, and was in a lot of European conflicts     * Hapsburg empress Maria Theresa and emperor Joseph II supported music and lit w/ p$atronage$

The Enlightenment and Music

• Joseph II was “enlightened”
• $The Enlightenment$ was centered in $France$, had roots in Britain, Germany, and Austria   * Source of development was the “$faith in reason$”
• 2 French philosophers mentioned when talking about the Enlightenment   * $Voltaire$ (aka François Marie Arouet; 1694-1778), a “tireless satirist and campaigner for justice and reason”   * $Jean Jacques Rousseau$ (1712-1778), younger and more radical     * Had a direct impact on music

“The Pursuit of Happiness”

• $Social justice$ became big after Thomas Jefferson and the Magna Carta
• 18th century had $salons$ (party/seminar) and public $concerts$
• Enlightenment “holds special resonance for America”

Art and Entertainment

• Art was t$o please$
• $Rococo$, a “light and often frothy” style was popular (midcentury)   * Common genre at the time was $divertimento$, a piece to “divert” (entertain)   * We don’t study this much?

Jean-Jacques Rosseau and Opera

• $Rosseau$ was a novelist, philosopher, and self taught composer, among other things
• He wanted opera that portrayed “real people in actual life”   * This lead to the formation of $opera buffa$, Italian comic opera that did just that     * Lively and catchy

The $Novel$

• New literary genre, “the Enlightenment’s greatest artistic legacy to more recent times”
• Ideally, they were $realistic observations of contemporary life$

The Rise of Concerts

• $Public concerts$ became big
• There were regular concert series and charity concerts
• First concert hall was the $Holywell Music Room$ in Oxford, England
• Purely orchestral music “moved into the public domain”
• Public concerts were $not great for making money$

Style Features of Classical Music

• Ideal music was n$atural and pleasing$
• There was still some complexity
• New expressive quality

Rhythm

• Biggest change
• Highly f$lexible$ in rhythm
• Tempo and meter may be constant
• Less predictable, more $interesting$

Dynamics

• More $variety and flexibility$
• $Notated$ in music now (f, p, ff, etc.)
• Lots of crescendo and diminuendo
• $Piano$ started to replaced harpsichord   * Pianoforte!

Tone Color: The Classical Orchestra

• Basis for symphonic orchestra
• Heart was (still) $stringed instruments$
• Classical orchestra had violins 1 and 2, violas, cellos, basses, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 french horns, 2 timpani, and optionally 2 clarinets and/or trumpeuts
• $Woodwinds$ provided “pleasing variety” and strengthened strings
• $Brass$ provided support for main harmonies in the middle range

Melody: Tunes

• Uncomplicated and $singable$ (simple)
• Closer to popular/folk music
• $Tunes$ were worked into larger compositions
• $Theme and variation form$ became popular

Texture: Homophony

• Primary texture is $homophony$   * Considered more “natural” than polyphony
• Easier to compose, in some ways
• Precisely $specified harmonies$
• “Continuo” was discontinued

Classical Counterpoint

• Some Classical composers still used a “more delicate, unobtrusive” counterpoint
• Attracted $special attention$
• More intense and artificial
• Heart in $sonatas$, often in the development section

Form in Classical Music

Repetitions and Cadences

• Themes in classical music are repeated immediately and many times
• Preceded distinctively?
• Closed off distinctively

Classical Forms

• Most important forms were…   * Sonata form   * Minuet form   * Rondo form   * Theme and variations form
• “Commonly understood $frame of reference$ [for music]”

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